Elven cultivators

Time flies by in the midst of busyness.

After more than half a year of experimentation, Anton finally verified the alternative materials for the Longyuan Dan formula one by one.

However, what truly hindered his progress was the dragon blood, the main material he initially thought would be the least of his worries.

At first, Anton used the blood of the Scaled Lizard as the main ingredient, but he always failed at the last minute.

He thought it was because the blood concentration of the Scaled Lizard was too low, so he tried to extract and purify the blood to increase the blood concentration, but no matter how he tried, he still failed.

Unwilling to give up, Anton went to Bishui Port to purchase materials and bought various kinds of dragon beast blood to replace the blood of the Scaled Rock Lizard in refining the Dragon Essence Pill, but without exception, all of them failed.

Only then did he finally realize the crux of the problem—dragon beast blood itself was not suitable as the main ingredient for Dragon Essence Pill.

"Is it because the bloodline concentration of dragon beasts is too diluted? Or is the bloodline of the dragons on the Dawn Continent different from that of the dragons in the cultivation system?"

Anton wanted to use a higher concentration of dragon blood to verify his hypothesis, but after much thought, he couldn't find a feasible path.

Pureblooded dragons aside, even sub-dragons are beyond his ability to deal with at the Qi Refining stage.

Adult sub-dragons generally reach the Gold rank, and their combat power is much stronger than that of ordinary Gold-rank dragons.

For example, the Rockhorn Dragon in the Thousand Rock Hills is a sub-dragon at the Gold Peak.

Even if the three elders of the clan joined forces, they might not be its match.

The blood of the sub-dragon species is an extremely rare and precious commodity, with prices so high that it is practically impossible to find.

For a time, Anton didn't know where to get the blood of the dragon race.

"etc......"

"If dragon beasts don't work, what about the blood of dragon descendants?"

After much thought, Anton suddenly had a flash of inspiration. But he quickly fell back into distress.

Dragonborn blood is also difficult to obtain.

Killing a few dragonborn in secret is not difficult, but to obtain dragonborn blood in a long-term and stable manner is tantamount to challenging the entire Kreisor Dragon City, and will inevitably incur the Dragon City's fierce retaliation.

He doesn't yet have the strength to face Kreisor Dragon City head-on.

If the Dragonborn doesn't work...

Anton's fingers tapped unconsciously on the stone table, then suddenly stopped.

Lizard people!

Those cold-blooded reptiles that dwell in the northern part of Silvermoon Forest also have dragon blood flowing through their veins, essentially dragon descendants with diluted bloodlines. Perhaps... their blood can meet the requirements?

Once he had an idea, Anton immediately put it into action.

Some lizardmen are imprisoned in Silvermoon Forest and used as combat subjects in practical training courses.

Anton went directly to Darian, using the pretext of learning potion-making, and asked him to get some blood from the lizardmen.

He then immediately began to verify his conjecture.

......

Three days later, in the treehouse backyard

Anton sat cross-legged on the bluestone, his body surrounded by wisps of spiritual energy that entwined around the bronze cauldron.

The cauldron trembled slightly, emitting a low hum, as if some living thing was awakening within it.

About ten minutes later, the cauldron suddenly trembled. A wisp of pale golden mist leaked out from the crack in the lid, carrying a warm medicinal fragrance, neither strong nor overpowering, just like the fresh scent of earth mixed with grass roots after a rain.

Anton's expression hardened, but he dared not be distracted in the slightest. He continued to concentrate on maintaining the stability of the spiritual fire until the tremors in the cauldron completely subsided. Only then did he slowly step forward and lift the lid of the cauldron.

Three pills lay quietly at the bottom of the furnace.

It is dark red in color, with fine, winding patterns on its surface, resembling a sleeping dragon.

A rich medicinal aroma wafted over, and after just one breath, Anton felt his blood and qi surge, and the primordial spiritual energy in his dantian began to circulate on its own.

"It's done."

Anton was overjoyed; his tense shoulders and back finally relaxed.

Just as he had guessed, the extracted and purified lizardman blood could indeed replace the original dragon blood.

Finally, the Dragon Essence Pill has been successfully refined.

After a while of elation, Anton gradually came to his senses and a thoughtful expression appeared on his face.

Lizardman blood works, but dragon blood doesn't. What's the difference between the two?

An Dong opened the Great Dao Jade Slip, consulted a large number of documents, and gradually formed a guess in his mind.

The process of alchemy is actually about awakening the spirituality of the materials, allowing them to fuse together and undergo a qualitative change.

Therefore, when selecting materials for alchemy, the most important thing is the spiritual quality of the materials.

Spirituality is determined by three dimensions: essence, energy, and spirit.

Although the Scaled Rock Lizard is a dragon beast, its bloodline has undergone disordered hybridization over many generations, and its "spirit" has been completely dissipated, leaving only "essence" and a small amount of "qi" in its blood.

It's like a piece of dead jade; the material is still there, but the spirit is gone.

Lizardmen are different; their blood contains all three treasures—essence, energy, and spirit—and their spirituality remains intact.

In simpler terms, lizardmen are an intelligent race with full consciousness and emotions, while rock lizards belong to the category of beasts that live by instinct.

In the world of cultivation, a demon beast that has become a spirit is far more valuable than a ferocious beast that has not developed intelligence, the key being whether it possesses sentience.

"In that case, the blood of the dragon descendants should also be able to be used as the main ingredient of the Dragon Essence Pill, and it can meet the standards without too many rounds of extraction and purification."

"The blood of some sub-dragon species that have developed intelligence should also meet the requirements."

This discovery greatly excited Anton.

Having verified this, we can avoid many detours when researching other alternative materials in the future.

After calming himself down, Anton focused his attention back on the Dragon Essence Pill.

He picked up a Dragon Essence Pill and put it in his mouth.

The pill melted instantly upon entering the mouth, and its warm medicinal power flowed down the throat like a stream, seeping into every part of the body.

Anton immediately sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began circulating the "Primordial Return to the Source Technique".

Within the dantian, the circulation speed of the primordial spiritual energy significantly accelerated, as if a parched riverbed had received its first sweet rain.

Wherever the medicine reached, the meridians expanded, the Qi in the dantian surged, and even the sensitivity to the energy of heaven and earth became more acute.

A full hour passed before Anton opened his eyes, a satisfied smile on his face.

His efforts were worthwhile; the effects of the Dragon Essence Pill did not disappoint him, and his cultivation efficiency almost doubled.

Anton estimated that he would be able to refine a wisp of primordial spiritual energy in about three months.

In less than ten years, I will be able to break through to the late stage of Qi Refining.

Compared to the previous five years when it took to refine a single breath of primordial spiritual energy, the efficiency is simply amazing.

However, this efficiency is the result of multiple factors combined.

Spirit Gathering Talisman, Returning to the Void Devouring the Sea Technique, Life Source Crystal, Dragon Essence Pill... lacking any one of these, or even replacing the Dragon Essence Pill with a regular Qi Cultivation Pill, would not produce such good results.

"The medicinal power of one Dragon Essence Pill can be completely digested in about ten days."

"Three pills a month, that's thirty-six pills a year."

Anton quickly calculated that the blood from the lizardmen prisoners alone would definitely not be enough.

Are you going to hunt lizardmen?

The idea had barely surfaced when he rejected it himself.

Unlike the solitary scaly lizards, the reptilians live in tribes, often going out hunting in groups of dozens or even hundreds.

He might be able to ambush them once or twice, but once the lizardman tribe becomes alert and sends out gold-tier experts to surround and annihilate them, even escaping will be a problem for him with his current strength.

It would be difficult for him to obtain enough lizardman blood on his own.

"If one person can't do it..."

Anton looked out the window, his gaze passing over the layers of tree canopy and landing on the towering, eternal tree in the center of the forest.

"The only option left is to rely on the power of the clan."